Give and Take
by thefictionfreak
Summary: It can't be denied that the roles they play in their teams are synonymous. It can't be denied that their need for each other is mutual. A story of a point guard and a setter. Izuki x OC
1. Chapter 1

**Hello there~ Welcome to my mind.**

You just clicked on a story about two athletes from two very similar sports, how they realize their similarities despite their conflicting ideals, and how a mutual need for each other develops between them.

Tags: ideas on victory and defeat, hurt/comfort, angst, friendship, eventual romance, fluff, and some volleyball and basketball.

Please enjoy reading!

Disclaimer: Fujimaki Tadatoshi owns Kuroko no Basuke.

**EDITED 5/1/14**

* * *

**Chapter I**

Sometimes, Izuki thinks being a point guard is a role too large for his clumsy, less athletic body to handle.

Being a point guard requires maturity, a huge sense of responsibility, and of course, a heaping amount of intelligence. He may have a decent percentage on these areas ‒plus his Eagle Eye, definitely useful special ability‒ but sometimes, his physical strength just won't complete the image.

He pondered on this exasperatedly as he jogged with his teammates on a rainy Sunday, clutching at the side of his stomach to try to ease the cramp that formed there since the first lap. The searing pain just won't go, and every step felt like a blow at his appendix he felt like it's gonna rupture soon.

Why were they running laps around the school again? Ah, because the pretty pink-haired manager from Touou suddenly showed up, all wet and in tears, looking for her Tetsu-kun. Coach sent them out, ordered them to run 10 laps around the school, into the rain, after making Momoi wear this tight shirt with a bear on it.

Izuki had no idea why Coach had to make them run just for that. And it's Sunday too. Maybe Coach just wants to talk to her, but still.

He tried focusing on other things.

They passed by Seirin's smaller gyms again so he tried watching the volleyball club as they practice. His teammates are always looking at them every time they pass by here anyway.

The court they were using wasn't exactly a gym, it was just a covered court so they get to see what's going on inside.

He spotted a few familiar faces, a girl from his class and another one he have seen in the hallways a couple of times.

Koganei and Hyuuga were whispering at each other as they jog behind him, he heard it goes along like who does the other think about hitting on or something.

"The girl by the net. Did you see her?! The one with the braid?"

"Oh the setter? Nah, I think the one who just hit that ball like how Kagami would if he was playing volleyball."

"Heh, you really like tough girls do you?"

Silence. Izuki could tell Hyuuga was narrowing his eyes.

"And what makes you say that?"

"Of course, I can tell you like Coa―ow~!"

"Shuddup! Izuki, remind me to kill this idiot later when we finish our laps."

"Urghh…"

Silence.

"Izuki."

". . ."

"Hyuuga, I think he needs to rest now. He's been clutching at his side," said Tsuchida, slit eyes showing concern.

"Tch. Just a freaking side cramp," Hyuuga scowled. "Izuki, quit looking like you've been hit by a bullet and learn to deal with that. you're a point guard, you should be better than that."

Oh. Yes he knows, thank you very much.

". . . I'm fine."

And Izuki went ahead of them for the remaining laps, still clutching at his side.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

He's not fine, Hyuuga can tell. He looks like his legs have weights on them, and he's probably close to collapsing, and the rain won't stop, so. . .

"Izuki."

"Urghh."

"Izuki, go rest a bit."

"No."

"You look like hell, go rest a bit."

". . ."

He continued pushing his weight awkwardly from foot to foot.

_Stubborn little bastard!_

He yanked the guy by his blue shirt and made him sit on a stool by the covered court.

"Just sit there and be useless until we finish the laps. I don't want Riko blaming me if you pass out all of a sudden," the captain growled.

"But you just made a point, right? I'm a point guard, I should be better than this."

A vein ticked in Hyuuga's forehead.

"Then get stronger, you idiot. Work on your stamina and stop making stupid puns! For now, just rest there and wait."

The clutch shooter jogged away.

Hyuuga can be very cruel sometimes. Not as cruel as Coach, but cruel enough, especially during his random mood shifts.

This time is not one of those sometimes.

For making him take a break even for just a little bit, Hyuuga must have blessed him with a year's worth of mercy.

"Izuki-san."

The point guard looked around. He recognized the voice.

"Fuyu-san."

It was the girl with the long maroon hair from his class. Apparently, Fuyu Hikari is a member of Seirin volleyball club. It's the first time he saw her in her sports gear.

"You alright?" she asked.

"Yeah, just taking a break."

Then she dipped her mouth on the water fountain.

He turned away and hung his head, trying to relax, watching the droplets of rain at the tips of his black hair, thinking that was the end of the conversation.

The two classmates don't really talk much after all.

But they ended up talking anyway, with her standing a fair distance away in front of where he was sitting, occasionally hitting a volleyball hard to the floor then catching it, and then hitting it hard again and catching it again.

"Good job making it to the Winter Cup prelims, heard your team are representing our block. Lucky you." she told him, putting a fake smile on.

"Thanks, I guess. Although I still have a lot to improve."

The smile he was giving practically overflowed with unease.

"How about you guys? Did you make it to Winter Cup prelims too?" he asked, wondering why her slim hands are not swelling from the impact of her dribbling. It's not the same in basketball, he thought, where the dribble must be continuous.

"Oh, us? We didn't make it of course."

Izuki slightly narrowed his eyes. Why she sounded not even at least a bit upset about that, he did not understand.

"We didn't even get to play even a single nice set in our little time in the Interhigh Prelims. We got booted off almost a little too soon."

He glanced at her face, maybe now she's upset about that. Izuki's eyebrows furrowed when he saw that she isn't, and was even contorting her face to form a disgruntled sneer.

"It was terrible, really terrible. Hahaha" she continued, sneering down at the ball in her hands it was even harder for Izuki to decipher how she meant by that.

". . .well it's a good thing you guys didn't give up," he told her unknowingly. "I'm glad to see you're still practicing even on this weather. And it's a Sunday too."

She shot him a quick tight-lipped smile. "Ahh, yeap," she said, hitting the volleyball again. "It's really fun to play after all."

Izuki found that he was very confused, but he still tried to give the smile back.

"Right, that's good."

Fuyu Hikari glanced at the court and saw her teammates already getting back into position.

"Alright, break's over," she gave her classmate a last cheeky grin before yelling "I'm heading over!" to her teammates.

The point guard had to suppress the urge to scowl as he watched her retreating figure. There was something definitely wrong with that little conversation, he thought.

Not wanting to be anymore stressed than he already was, Izuki dismissed the thought and plopped a fist to the side of his mouth, leaning his elbow over his thigh.

While waiting for his teammates to return and while trying to relax his still cramping side, he distracted himself by watching the volleyball club while they practice.

He discovered that Hikari was the team's setter, and he could tell from the moment she started getting into action that his classmate is a good one.

_Looks like they're having fun_, Izuki thought, watching the court immediately come to life the moment they resumed their mini-practice game. He wasn't paying attention when he was still running in the rain, but these girls are actually pretty loud when the game is on.

Every time someone does a wallop from the service line, the opposing team would be shouting mild obscenities to distract the server, and the rest would be giggling like goofs. Every time someone commits an error, the whole team would be laughing at how funny it looked or how stupid the error committer was. When the ball stays in a rally for a long time, blows after blows, a series of yells would be heard along with the booming of every spike, every block, every grunt, and every squeak of shoes on the shiny wooden floor.

During one of the heart-stopping rallies, one of the shorter spikers on Hikari's side of the court committed a rather lame and unforgivable error. Hikari gave her a good set, and her approach step was good too, but the moment she came in contact with the ball, she failed the hit and it anticlimactically bounced on her instead.

Well that was. . . bad, Izuki thought.

In basketball, an error doesn't give the opposing team a score. They get the ball for the counter, but that's easier to take back. In volleyball, every error counts as a score for the opposing team. And an error like that can mean depletion of the team's morale, too.

He stared at the presumably freshman spiker who committed the error, expecting her to be yelled at. Nothing happened.

Instead, Hikari placed a hand on the freshman's head, not to pat it, she looked like she's intending to bury the little girl in the ground, while laughing soundlessly, face contorted in mirth, until she gave up and lolled her head back, giggling helplessly.

And the freshman. . .the freshman was chuckling too. Izuki didn't know why, but he actually thought the freshman would be bowing apologetically in front of her senpai. But nope, she was giggling like an idiot too.

Really, what's so laughable about committing mistakes?

One of the tallest in the team, the one who had been blowing thunderous spikes it was hard to believe she's the sassy girl that she is, comically imitated the freshman's attempt at a spike, and the team roared even more.

"Miyu," said Hikari, "I'm gonna give you a set again, you just hit it alright? Imagine it's your ex-boyfriend." Then she giggled like something was funny.

"Sure, sure, senpai."

Izuki was almost enjoying the team's antics when his own team of soaked 2nd year basketball players passed by the covered court again where he was resting. Just one more lap to go.

Turning back to the girls, Izuki resumed watching the sort of game he definitely can't afford to have in a basketball match.

A game without the stress of being pressured to win.

Maybe, girls' high school volleyball is not as tough as boys' high school basketball. No, of course not. They don't have to carry the weight of defeating the Generation of Miracles, and many other strong teams.

Maybe they're still not mature enough to worry too much about winning.

Hikari being a senpai and not even looking even a bit disappointed admitting their immediate loss in the Interhigh confirms this. Yes she seemed a bit disgruntled, but not as disappointed. Not as remorseful as he and his team would have been.

He remembered shedding tears in their tremendous loss in the Interhigh preliminaries this year and last year, him and is whole team. They vowed to redeem themselves in the Winter Cup, with their goal to be number 1 in Japan.

And here he thought girls are more emotional than guys.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

"Sheesh, never thought I'd see a bunch of pretty girls in a rainy Sunday in school," wheezed Koganei, hands behind his head.

The rest of the team watched as Momoi and Kuroko left together, still rather shocked about the information she gave thems.

"Koganei-senpai, do you mean you saw pretty girls other than Momoi-san in the school today?" Furihata asked, all levels of seriousness shown in his face. Fukuda followed suit (Kawahara is out with a flu).

"Too bad you guys missed the show earlier."

"What show, senpai? Tell us!"

Koganei's face became dead serious too. "A lot of tight black, super short shorts, a lot diving, flying in the air, bodies hitting the floor. . ."

Silence.

Kagami broke it, his eyes narrowing. "Senpai, you make it sound like a group of NBA cheerleaders went here."

"Hahaha! Well not really," Koganei went back to his usual cat-face. "It's the volleyball team, they were practicing on the covered court earlier."

"Really? God, we really did miss the show, Furi."

Koganei huffed. "Unfortunately, I didn't get an eyeful of them. Izuki did, and he's got the Eagle Eye."

"It doesn't work like that!"

"Idiots!" Coach bonked their heads. "Quit bantering and take a shower already! You'll get cold!"

The team immediately complied.

"HAI~!"

On the locker room, Koganei still won't stop badgering Izuki about the girls.

"Hey, hey. Did you talk to them? Did you get their names?"

"Yes, but I only talked to one of them."

"Really? Aw man, do you know the setter's name? The one with the red braided hair?"

"Yeah. . . I mean no! I wasn't focused on their, *cough* them. I was distracted by their play, though," said Izuki, taking off his soaked blue shirt by the back.

"And yeah, I mean I know the name of the girl you're talking about. She's in my class, her name is Fuyu, or something. Forgot her first name. And nope, her hair is maroon not red."

Almost immediately, Izuki's dark pupils dilated, eyes wide, index finger pointing up.

Koganei already know what's coming next.

"A moron should know more on the color maroon. _Kitakore~!_"

He immediately took his pun notebook out and scribbled the new pun.

The cat-faced boy gave him a weird look.

"Alright, alright. Wait. . . you said she's in your class?"

"Yup," he didn't look up from his little notebook.

"SHE'S IN YOUR CLASS?! Jeez, man! A girl like that in your class?! Better make a move now, Izuki!"

The point guard replied with a scowl.

"Koga. . ."

Koganei clapped a hand on his pale shoulder. "Izuki, if I were you, I'd make a move. I bet you saw how she does that tossing thing, I mean, she makes it look like she's a ballerina! Or something, but yeah! And did you see that bod‒"

Izuki turned and left him, heading towards the showers.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

Peeling his remaining clothes off, Izuki stepped into one of the shower stalls. The warm water hitting his pale skin soothed him out of the rigorous Sunday he had been through. He's not complaining, he actually like that he's training all the more, no matter how hard it is. He really wants to be a greater point guard, to help his team be the number 1 in Japan.

Well unlike a certain group of female athletes, particularly that one maroonhead.

He's not one to judge, really, because he saw the way they play just now, and he wasn't even aware that Hikari, his classmate, does not lament in the face of defeat the way his team does. But it still doesn't erase his impression of them as a team who only plays for the kicks. They have to learn how to pursue victory, to yearn and pay a debt in the court, not just because they're a good team, but because working hard and seeing the results of your efforts is the joy of engaging in sports.

But for them, playing is just fun, like what Hikari said.

That's true, but somehow they're not being serious. They just want to play, for the fun of it.

That's not really what being an athlete is.

Of course, you've got to enjoy the game, but you've got to work hard too, in order to win, so your efforts will pay off.

Fuyu Hikari, with all her calm and collected image in class, is actually a promising setter on the court. Koga was right. Also, who would have thought she has a very active personality when she's around her teammates?

He remembered how loud she laughs, how she almost drops on the floor in mirth. He never saw her like that in class, not even with her friends.

He realized it was nice to watch a person get so much fun and so out-of-character doing something they enjoy, with people whose company they enjoy also.

She would have been fascinating, and it's a bonus that she's not bad to look at. Too freaking bad she doesn't have the heart of a real athlete…

That day, Izuki decided something.

Fuyu Hikari is not his type of girl.

**EXTRA:**

"That guy, huh? You look cute together."

Hikari scoffed.

"Don't tell me those kinds are not your type? You know, basketball player, sleek-haired, sort of popular, taller than you…"

"Hmf. I don't think so."

"C'mon, Hikari."

"C'mon Kai."

"Wait, isn't he that cutie from the basketball club?" squealed someone.

"Yeah, and I don't know if you'd still find him cute once he starts spewing stupid puns out of that mouth of his."

Well it looks like the feeling is mutual.

* * *

**End Notes:**

Edited 5/1/14. Because I'm so lame in writing things coherently. Hopefully this is easier to read now hah~

Before it leads to confusion, let me clarify that in this fic, I made Interhigh and Wintercup, probably even Kantou tournament, not just single event competitions that focuses solely on basketball. Here, these competitions also include sports events like track and field, some ball games, badminton, some contact sports, swimming, etc. Of course, volleyball is also included, that's why my OC and her team also competed in the Interhigh prelims.

Anyway, English is not my first language so of course you'll see a bunch of mistakes.

I decided I love Izuki enough to write a fic about him, although making lame puns is lame, lol.

Still not my favorite character though, it's Takao. And Akashi and Hanamiya and Fukui. See my love for point guards?

There will be more or less 10 chapters.

And it's probably not necessary assuming that you guys are already acquainted to volleyball (because you read KnB fanfiction, and it's about basketball of course) but I just thought I'd give you a few heads up.

Volleyball – played by a team of six, lol everyone knows this already

Setter – the one who tosses the ball to a spiker for a good attack, playmaker, holder of the offense, brain/leader/support pillar of the team, very similar to a point guard.

Spiker – the one who hits the ball of course loljk

Libero – hard to explain but this is like a floor defense specialist, yeah.

Medicine Ball - A super heavy ball used for training muscles and stuff.

That's it. Bye~ review if you can.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter II**

Whenever Izuki sees Hikari in class after that Sunday, it's hard to tell if she was the same hysterical, active, laugh-loving volleyball player he saw in that covered court.

She wears her hair down in class, not like the way she wears it in a long braid in practice. Her athletic body, which was once clad in a tight black shorts, loose training shirt, black kneepads, knee-high socks and sports shoes, was back in the comfort of her school uniform.

The biggest difference, though, between her sports girl self and student self was the way she acted like. In class, she seems like a stoic, sort-of-snobby kind of student with a small group of friends. She comes alive and becomes a different person when she's with her teammates.

If some of their classmates see her play volleyball too, they'd definitely be surprised like he was.

It was just too bad she's not his type of girl.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

Practice goes on for Seirin Basketball club. Everyone seems to be improving a lot and the difference between their previous performances was obvious. Especially Kagami. Kuroko has been practicing a new drive, Hyuuga was becoming a greater captain, and Kiyoshi's return added a tremendous amount of power in their game.

And Izuki. . . well, Izuki has been doing his best catching up with everyone too.

He may be surrounded by exceptional players, but as the point guard, it is one of his responsibilities to not let himself be left out.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

It was by the end of October, when Izuki got to talk with Hikari about things not related to school and classes and assignments again. This time it wasn't just simple talk, he somehow found himself discovering things about her and her team, things that he later found himself contemplating too much about.

"Eh?!"

"Merged practice!? With the volleyball club?!"

The guys listened with interest, pausing at once in their lunches.

"Unfortunately, yes," Coach Riko confirmed, sitting on the floor of the rooftop. "Their coach is an old woman, old like Takeda-sensei, so they have to practice and do drills by themselves because the woman hardly attends. The Sports Department requested if I could give them a bit of assessment and if there's something I can do to help improve their game because if they don't, their team will most likely get dismissed by the end of semester. Their captain is a good friend, and knowing how they've been performing poorly on matches also made me want to help them."

"But wouldn't that affect our practice?" asked Kagami.

"I'll make sure it won't. It's not exactly what you guys think anyway. You'll be practicing separately of course, but we'll be using the same gym. I won't allow any interaction between the two teams if not necessary. I wouldn't want to know how you would behave yourselves around those girls."

She glared at them. Everyone gulped.

"Also, we can't afford to miss practice even once, that's why I'll be training you guys at the same time I'll be seeing what I can do for the volleyball club. Their practice schedule is the same as ours now. Of course, you'll be my top priority. I'll just lend them a bit of help. This is one of my duties as Student Council vice president."

Simultaneously, Seirin basketball club thanked the heavens for the gawdawesome coach that they luckily have.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

"Seriously, how is this a merged practice?" Hyuuga complained.

"This is a merged practice. They're practicing while we are practicing."

"Don't give me that, Kiyoshi. It's a merged practice if we are actually there in the gym practicing and interacting with them."

The two bantered while jogging laps around the school as a start of their usual warm ups.

Kagami watched them with twin-eyebrows knitted together. "Captain, what's with it that makes you so fired up? It's not like they play basketball anyway. And I thought you like Co‒"

Hyuuga bonked him in the end.

"Shut up! And what's with it that doesn't make everyone so fired up, huh?"

Sighs.

"What kind of captain are you, Hyuuga…"

"Who said that?!"

Chuckle. "Fufufu. You're so lame, Izuki. And guys, don't even deny your excitement in this. This is our first merged practice with girls after all!"

Furihata exclaimed, "Yeah, it's like Coach is setting us up with those ladies!".

"That's what I'm talking about!"

"Hell no, she isn't."

". . ."

"It's not my first."

Gasps. Heart attacks.

"What? Kuroko?!"

"Yes, it's not my first, and yes I've been here the whole time."

"Urghh… I thought I was going to die."

"So you've been set up by your coach to a group of babes before too? How did it go?"

"Tell us! Tell us!"

"Well, Akashi-kun once merged our practice with the girls' volleyball club at Teiko. He said it was to learn strategies in volleyball that can be applied in basketball. We ended up teaching them strategies instead, rather than the other way."

Kagami scoffed at his shadow. "Tch, you jerks. If I know, that Akashi guy and the others enjoyed perving on the girls, especially Aomine and Kise. Midorima too."

"No, Kagami-kun. Actually my teammates were afraid of them."

"WHAT?! You mean the Generation of Miracles?!" they chorused.

"I guess so. Aomine-kun told me he was afraid he'd get spiked in the face if he tries something."

"Urrghh. . ."

"That makes sense," said Kiyoshi smartly.

"Hyuuga, I think I'm starting to get afraid too. . ."

When they finished the laps, they went back to the gym and found the girls having a 6 on 1 drill. Coach was standing by, observing the team as they play. The poles and net the guys so kindly set up earlier are still not being used because only half of the court was preoccupied.

The captain/ace, Kai, was hitting the ball towards any of the 6 girls positioned accordingly. If the hit gets received, it will have to be passed onto the setter, Hikari, who tosses the ball back to Kai, who hits it again, and the drill goes on.

While the boys were doing their stretchings on the side, Izuki couldn't help but observe them. Almost all of the boys are, except Izuki was only observing their play style. And he was seeing something kind of wrong.

Why are they so freaking good?

Good, as in, they play really well. The last time he saw them they were quite decent, with only two players performing rather impressively (that was his classmate and the spiker captain). But now they worked flawlessly, with minimal errors and with everyone giving their best. This time, they were practicing seriously too, not fooling around like children.

And here he thought they're supposed to be weak underdogs.

"Whew. Not bad," Kagami commented, noticing how strong Kai attacks the ball.

Hikari, whose hair was back to a braid, was dashing across the front line area, setting the ball smoothly it looked like it wasn't even touching her fingers. Beads of sweat dangled with each toss as she yelled supportive words to her team. Words like 'nice one!', 'nice receive!', a lot of 'alright!' and a few 'pass the ball more to my direction'.

It was hard not to notice how she effectively influences her teammates' performances. Not just by words, but especially how she saves every almost-impossible receives that they pass to her when committing errors, so as not to make her teammates feel bad for it.

She is the team's supporter, the one responsible for plays and the flow of offense…

The brain and driver of the team.

Just like him.

This made him wonder more about why on earth an athlete like her do not show any sort of remorse when telling him about how easily her team got booted out of competition.

Although in middle school he almost easily lost every time too, but that didn't mean he just smiled it out like its nothing and just continued basketball for nothing.

Unlike her.

Moments later, the girls took a break and the boys took over half of the gym. The net hasn't been removed yet, meaning the Coach still has something in her mind for the ladies.

"Riko-san, so how was my girls?" Kai asked, twirly ends of her high pony bouncing as she wiped the top of her head with a towel.

"Most of you perform well," she said, smiling politely at the taller girl. "My observations are mainly positive, especially in receiving and accuracy which I've got to praise you guys about. Not everyone can throw spikes like you do and I'm impressed your teammates can receive them like they're cute."

Kai smiled her toothy smile. "That's very nice."

"I'd like to see how you work on offense and blocking after the boys finish calisthenics, and then later I'll discuss to your team about my observations."

The captain nodded enthusiastically.

"Also, you have a good setter. That is a very important factor in volleyball. Her ball handling skills are obviously refined. I can tell she's been working for years to achieve that very soft flip in her hands when she tosses so the set goes up flawlessly without any spin. She'll just have to work on being able to set the ball higher and farther. Once she improves her arm strength, she'll be beyond effective."

Riko found it confusing why Kai suddenly looked like something was caught in her throat that she could not spit. "Ah, Hikari," she started. "You're right. Her sets are incredible. I mean, what kind of spiker wouldn't want to hit sets like those she just threw. Really, but. . ."

"But what is it?"

"Hikari. . . urgh well, I have problems about her."

"Oh," Riko looked thoughtful. "Do you two not get along? Because if you don't, it will be hard to work as a team considering your positions."

"No, no. Nothing like that, we're actually buddies so there's no problem about that."

"What is it then?"

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

Izuki was taking a swig from his water bottle when Coach asked him and Kuroko to come with her. When they started walking towards the volleyball players, he could tell she was up to something.

Hikari was practicing a complicated looking setting drill (doing crunches while tossing the ball to teammate when she lifts her upper body up, good for improving abdominal muscles) when Riko called her out. The setter jogged towards them.

"These are my players, Kuroko-kun and Izuki-kun," the shorter girl told her. "Guys, this is Fuyu Hikari, she's a second-year," she told his players. "Hikari-san, they'd be helping you for a while. I hope you get along with them."

Hikari bowed awkwardly, trying to hide her confusion. "Uhh, nice to meet you, Kuroko-san. I already know Izuki. We're in the same class so, yeah." She glanced at Izuki.

"Uh, hi there, Fuyu-san." Izuki awkwardly smiled his polite smile.

"Nice to meet you, Fuyu-senpai," someone spoke.

The volleyball player looked around and was shocked to find that it was a smaller boy with light blue hair standing in front of hair. She almost didn't notice him.

"Alright. So Hikari-san, do you have a basketballl at home?" asked Riko.

Hikari blinked. "I'm afraid I don't."

"It's ok. Kuroko-kun and Izuki-kun have spare basketballs at home. They'll let you borrow one later. I suppose you don't have a medicine ball at home either, so I'll need you to drop by my house tomorrow to borrow my Dad's. These guys will walk you there. In the meantime, I want you to practice tossing a basketball here and at home."

"Ok, thanks. I'll keep that in mind," she replied.

"Good, you can go back to practice now. We'll talk to you again later."

"Hai."

The setter jogged back to her team, her maroon braid dangling behind her.

"Now, Kuroko-kun and Izuki-kun, I have a favor to ask you."

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

Practice for both girls and boys were dismissed at the same time that early evening. In the locker room, some of the boys were fooling around about who should be walking a particular girl home and stuff. Some argued they'd have to face the wrath of their Coach first, some argued that she'd allow it since she agreed on merging their practices. Some just didn't care.

"Hey Kuroko!" Fukuda called the boy who was taking his white shirt off. "How 'bout you? Who would you be walking home?" he duped.

The phantom player blinked once. "Fuyu-senpai," he said emotionlessly.

The half-naked boys gawked at their smallest member because heck, Kuroko never pick girls he just met. That question was supposed to be a joke.

"Oi, I already said I'd be the one to walk the girl with the braid home!"

Kuroko stared at his cat-faced senpai. "I'm sorry. Coach asked me and Izuki-senpai to walk her towards Izuki-senpai's house because Coach said he has to lend her a spare basketball tonight, and then we'll have to walk her home afterwards."

Some of the guys were left with the same thoughts in their minds. _Why didn't the Coach ask me instead? Die Kuroko! You too, Izuki!_

"Mah, mah. Don't worry guys, Riko must have a reason why she didn't pick you," Kiyoshi said, smiling that wide goofy smile of his.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

Walking with the two basketball players was easier than Hikari expected. Truthfully, she thought she was going to have to do all the talk since both of them seemed to be very silent, especially the one with the light blue hair. Surprisingly, they were quite chatty on their way, especially Izuki. The two of them didn't talk much, considering how she's too fond of her teammates to actually interact with her classmates a lot.

She was still a bit confused about this task, though. She was sure Riko-san was up to something, but she didn't ask. She got the idea of training her to toss a basketball and a medicine ball to improve her arm strength, but this walking her thing with these guys was a little puzzling. She decided maybe it's not really important, so she didn't ask anything yet.

They reached Izuki's traditional Japanese home after a few minutes of walking. Kuroko asked if it was ok if he and Hikari just stay outside and wait while Izuki gets the spare basketball they had come here for. He said that it might take some time for the female senpai to get home if Izuki's mother invites them for dinner, and it was also getting a bit late. They both complied.

Once Izuki disappears from the door, Hikari seemed to forget that Kuroko was with still with her, so the slightly smaller boy broke the silence.

"Hello."

Of course, he received the usual response.

"Whew, I actually forgot about you there, heh," she said, hand on her chest.

"I know. I get that a lot."

"Uh, I see…"

"Senpai seems to enjoy volleyball very much," said Kuroko.

Hikari smiled. "Oh, did I talk about it too much? Sorry, I guess I'm just too obsessed with it," she chuckled lightly.

"I saw how much you enjoy playing volleyball with your teammates," the boy deadpanned.

Hikari's smile softened, her gaze went up to the dark, starry sky, hands clasping together behind her.

"Yeah. It's pretty much my life now. I enjoy it with all of my heart. My current teammates are all very awesome too."

"That's good. I have the same feelings about basketball. And my current team."

"That's good too," she turned to the boy and gave him a smile, then turned to the sky again.

After a few seconds of silence, Kuroko blurted the question he'd been meaning to ask since the conversation between him, Coach, and Izuki earlier.

"Fuyu-senpai, I'm sorry if I may ask, but _what is victory_ to you?"

Hikari blinked and turned her gaze on him again, looking thoughtful for a moment before giving the boy another smile.

She was contemplating on whether to answer her polite kouhai or not when Izuki came running towards them with the basketball in his hands.

"That was quick, Izuki-san."

"Here," he handed it to Hikari. "It's a little worn out, but still weighs the same."

Hikari tested it by throwing a few little tosses in the air with her skilled and swift hands. "This looks good. Thanks," she smiled at her classmate.

Izuki returned the gesture and turned to his teammate, "Kuroko, I know your house is closer here so I guess it will be better if you go ahead now. I'll walk Fuyu-san home. You'll be taking a longer route if you come along with us."

The two boys stared at each other which made Hikari think they were having an inner conversation, until Kuroko nodded. "Okay."

"So Kuroko-san, I think we'll just continue this talk tomorrow."

"Okay. I'll see you both tomorrow,"

"Sure. And thanks for walking me here."

Now that she thinks of it, why did Kuroko have to walk her too? Or if it was an order from their Coach, what was the reason? That question seemed a bit odd as well…

Kuroko bid farewell and walked away, after giving Hikari a meaningful glance.

Izuki turned to her, smiling his friendly smile, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Let's go?"

She noticed he has taken his gakuran top off when he ran inside his house and was now wearing a plain white shirt, which looked very nice on him.

"Let's go."

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

Along their way, Hikari managed to make her classmate stop calling her Fuyu-san because it sounded weird, but she didn't manage to stop him from making another pun, which sounded even weirder.

"Ok. Fuyu, I'll call you Hikari-san from now on."

She chuckled heartily at the lame attempt on humor. "Um. . . what?"

It's not new to her that her basketball playing classmate has a very weird obsession for puns. In fact, it's the first thing that pops into her mind every time she sees him, the fact that he's good looking with sharp eyes and a charming smile only comes second.

The point guard frowned. "What, you didn't get it? That was a pun on your last name, 'for you' becomes 'Fuyu'," he said rather proudly.

Hikari scoffed and looked away, chuckling at how lame this guy was.

"You guys are so weird you make me feel like a normal person."

Izuki stopped dribbling his old basketball that he carried for Hikari and glanced at her face which was focused on the road.

He totally agrees to what he just heard.

"Yeah, you're pretty weird."

"And messed up in the head. . . wait, how did you get that one? I have been acting pretty much normal around you guys," she asked, her voice feigning accusation. "I only freak out when I'm on a…"

Izuki gave her the look for her to continue. "When you're on a…?"

She shook her head. "You know what? I don't really have much time to explain it now cuz we're already nearby my house so maybe‒"

"Oh there, Maji Burger. Maybe we can eat something first?"

She was never swayed by guys she just started speaking with suddenly asking her out because she most certainly knows where it was going, and the least she needs now is a relationship that will complicate things more. But she was sure it was not the same thing with Izuki. The guy probably just wants her to continue what she was saying.

"I hope you don't mind. . ."

Then she remembered, Izuki is the vice president of Seirin's Student Life Committee. Well, it probably wouldn't hurt to try and tell him now. It wasn't something she was hiding from people anyway, or something she was ashamed of. Maybe the guy can help her, who knows?

Hikari stared at the smile that says he means well, and found herself returning the same.

"Of course I don't mind. Let's go!"

**EXTRA:**

Koganei didn't mean to, but he was able to make all of his teammates' faces go red by suddenly thinking aloud.

"Fufu, I wonder how Coach is going to use her Analyzer Eyes to the volleyball club? Is she going to make them do the same thing she made us do before? Wait, what was it again that she made us do before? Oh… wait, I remember, she made us take our shirts. . . off."

When the realization that he had spoken something like that aloud hit him, he looked around at his teammates who were already blushing madly, except maybe Kuroko.

"DON'T GIVE US THOSE KINDS OF IMAGES!"

And he, too, joined in the mad red blush spectacle.

**"**GUYS, I SWEAR I DIDN'T MEAN IT!"

Good thing their demoness of a coach wasn't around.

**End Notes:**

Edited 5/2/14.

Howdy everyone~

I hope I'm not making anyone too OOC, and I hope the story isn't too confusing.

I'd like to apologize for the little cliffhanger up there too. Don't worry, things will be explained soon. Get ready because the fluff is coming. . .

Thanks for reading and I hope you come back for the next chapter.

Also, I'd like to know your thoughts so please review if you can.


	3. Chapter 3

**EDITED 5/7/14 because I had to delete the Steve thing it was just bullshit.**

Here comes the REAL Izuki x OC thing, the first chapters are more like warm-ups. From here on we'll be focusing on the two.

And there'd be lesser volleyball shit.

Disclaimer: I do not own KnB.

* * *

**CHAPTER III**

Fuyu Hikari realized something while sitting by Maji Burger's ceiling-to-floor windows waiting for her classmate Izuki Shun to finish taking their orders from the counter.

She realized the guy already knew about her _condition_, that's why he had taken her here to talk about it, because _he knew_.

Of course, Kai must have told Riko-san, who must have ordered Izuki and Kuroko to do something.

Of course, this is still just an order. Not a genuine, friendly concern from a guy who thought there might be something wrong.

Hikari scoffed. She should've known.

"That kid," Hikari said nibbling on a strip of fries, "Kuroko-san right? He's very cute, like I freaking want to squish him, really. But he's pretty odd, you know, almost like a ghost. And he asked me this weird question."

"What question?" asked Izuki, putting down his glass of iced-tea, onyx irises focused on her.

"Well, he asked _what victory is for me_, but I wasn't able to answer because you suddenly came running wearing that shirt, which looks good on you by the way."

She put another piece of fries on her mouth, feigning disinterest on the subject, not even looking back at the point guard.

"What would've been your answer then?"

There was a hint of a smirk playing on Hikari's lips, though she still refused to give him her full attention. "How about you answer it first?" she offered, holding her own glass of iced-tea.

"I'd like to know yours first."

"I'm not answering unless…" she directed her gaze on her fingers catching the droplets around the glass, eyebrows hiking up in provocation.

"Well, victory is the very reason why people like us trains hard and aspires to become the best, because we want it. Achieving victory proves that you're stronger, wiser, and more deserving than your opponents. Training to win and devoting yourself to what you enjoy is the joy of playing sports."

He waited for her take in the implications of his statement ― looking for something, some sort of reaction, but found nothing but indifference, as if the statement has been nagged and rubbed at her for how many times already that she couldn't make herself bother to listen anymore ― as he watched her take a long sip on her drink while he spoke.

"That's mainstream," she finally replied.

The setter put the glass down with an audible thud, seemingly ready to get down to business, as her dark-blood eyes finally met his, bearing intensity so fierce Izuki was sure they were no longer talking about a simple matter anymore.

For once, it took Izuki a few seconds to respond. "Yes, because that's a universal truth."

She placed her hands and elbows on the table, finally giving him her full attention.

"Not for me."

He might have been disturbed, if he hadn't half-expected that. "Then what is victory to you?" Izuki asked, lowering his head and leaning in closer to see her eyes more. He wants to make sure what she says is true.

Half-hooded eyes melted against his, and those dark blood ones clearly showed―

"Don't ask like you don't know it already."

―suspicion.

Izuki didn't expect this sudden turn.

"What, you don't know? Didn't your Coach tell you?"

Izuki's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

What is it that he should've known already? Does it have anything to do with his previous observations of her? That her nonchalant attitude towards defeat irked him?

The only thing Coach told him and Kuroko earlier was to walk her home. She has mentioned that Hikari has a misconception of victory, that she's quite problematic, and that it might it help her if they talk to her about it, but that's all. She even reminded not to deal too much on the setter's problems and focus more on basketball.

He blinked and gave back the stare she was giving him. "Hikari-san, the only thing Coach said was that you have a misconception of victory."

"And?"

"And that you're quite problematic. Why is that?"

She scoffed.

"I may or may not have a misconception of victory or whatever, but that's the thing about me, and I can't help it. It's planted inside my brain and no one―."

"Which is why we're here, to see if there's something we can do―"

"And then what?" her voice sounded higher, "You'll try to brainwash me into thinking something else about victory, about defeat? Because you were ordered to? Because―"

"―no one ordered me to brainwash you―"

"―you guys think that once I change my mind, we'll be the strong team that we're supposed to be and nobody has to worry about our team getting terminated anymore? Is that it?"

Izuki stared at her incredulously, just what was this she was trying to say?

"Hikari-san," he said, very softly, and then his voice was back to normal, "I don't even know what you're talking about― I don't know what else Coach knows, and seeing this, seeing your reaction to this, it makes me want to know."

Hikari released a deep sigh, gaining back her composure. "Fine. You know what victory is for me?" she paused, as if not trusting herself to say it front of him. "It's something I prefer not to pursue because it only takes away what I love most about volleyball, which is the enjoyment. I don't play just to be constantly pressured to win, or to be the best, or whatever kind of stuff. It only amps up the pressure. I only play because it's fun, that's it."

The silence that followed was enough to describe Izuki's befuddlement. Suddenly, he felt the need to make her repeat what she'd said, to check if he heard her right, or to check if what she had spoken was gibberish.

Because it can't be right, it can't be. Izuki had been into sports since second grade, and a wordplayer at that, but never did he imagine that an athlete ―a very promising athlete― would speak such words.

But somehow, in the back of his mind, he already expected this sort of answer coming from her. This certainly explains why she had acted so casual about getting defeated in the Interhigh preliminaries, but still. . .

"How. . ." he managed to say, still in a daze, "―how could you prefer not to pursue victory? How could you prefer not to fight? You have a team, and you're a setter. Your responsibility is just a large as a point guard in basketball ―trust me, I know it, I'm a point guard, but that―that's not what sports is, Hikari-san."

That almost sounded like desperation.

"I know," she replied calmly, as if she already expected this reaction. "It's not the same as taking it easy, I only said I prefer not to pursue victory. But because it's my duty as a regular in my team, I'm left with no choice but to forget about what I believe in. I'm left with no choice but to fight."

Finally, he recognized some sense in the setter's words.

Izuki leaned back on his seat, looking genuinely reassured. "Good. That's a relief."

At least, he told himself, at least she has a reason to abandon that unbelievably twisted belief of hers when the game is on. At least she fights, for the sake of her team.

Right then, it occurred to the Eagle Eyed point guard that he had misjudged Hikari's teammates. It seemed like she was the only one who has a reason to feel alright about losing, not to mention they had to make her drop these misleading ideals just to put up a good fight.

That leaves another question:

If they're the skilled team that they seem to be in practice, and if their very complicated setter is forced to try to win for the sake of the team, why did they lose in the Interhigh so quickly?

Hikari spoke again, pulling Izuki out of his train of thought. "So Izuki-kun, do you think I still need psychological help?" There was a slight look of skepticism in her face.

The black-haired boy actually considered it. "I wasn't implying anything, but as long as you don't forget that sports is a war where you are required to fight, then I don't think so."

Hikari batted her dark blood eyelashes, looking thoughtful before nodding. "Good."

After another moment of eerie silence, Hikari sighed deeply again ―looking thoroughly done with the subject― then directed her gaze outside through the glass windows and resumed eating. "The fries have gone cold," she commented with sneer.

Izuki, who was unknowingly tensed throughout the conversation, was relieved to hear her light laughter. At least that lifted the mood up.

He felt the corners of his lips curling up the slightest. "And the _fries cries _for having gone cold," he remarked.

Now she's the one who gave him the look of disbelief.

She started giggling, not because it's funny, but because this guy is so unbelievably lame, and the fact that he can actually spew stupid puns right now of all times is probably even more unbelievable than what she just told him.

She giggled more, because she needs it, after having to talk about that.

And he giggled with her, just because it was odd to see a girl giggle after all that talk.

"You know what? I actually realized you look hot when you're scowling. You should scowl more," she teased, and messed his hair to reach his eyes more.

If it was another day, Izuki would have responded to that with a polite withdrawal. But he found he was still a bit piqued from their little discussion that he actually teased back.

"Don't flatter me much, you're already the first girl who actually laughed at my pun. Well aside from my family." Then he, too, resumed consuming his food.

"Oh, what pun? I wasn't aware."

"But you giggled."

"Probably because you're too unbelivable."

"You're way more unbelievable. Trust me."

"I giggled because you were so lame," she spat back, biting the straw of her drink.

When she looked back at him again, Izuki's eyes were wide and his eyebrows are knitted ―a look she has seen before. Then he held up an index finger and said to no one in particular.

"The gorilla goriggles at the lame llama_. Kitakore~!" _There was a PING! sound in the background.

Hikari almost choked in her drink, and found herself stifling another giggle because of her reaction. "I see what you did there," she offered and made a mental note to always be ready for pun outbursts when around this random classmate of hers.

By the time she recovered, a little notebook has already found itself on Izuki's hand. While the boy was jotting down the new pun, Hikari realized something and started giggling again.

"See? I'm so punny I can make you laugh," Izuki grinned, looking absolutely triumphant.

"You have a handy-dandy notebook."

"Of course, you miss the fun when you miss the pun, so I keep it handy-dandy."

Giggle. "Do you also. . . sit down in a thinking chair and think, think, think," she sang, mimicking that weird guy with striped green shirt.

And their conversation suddenly turned into a giggling fit full of lame puns and lame teasing. The topic about misconceptions of victory has long been forgotten.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

The next day, practice went the same as usual. The basketball club was still pretty much distracted having the volleyball club in the same gym, but later found it bearable enough, and they weren't throwing glances at them anymore. Ironically, Coach thinks it's a good training for the boys. It means that even if they're exposed to distraction, they can still perform well.

When the girls had a mini-practice game (regulars vs benchwarmers) while the guys sat for their water break, it was excuse to watch them. Coach allowed it, because she weren't shooting them glares.

Izuki, the team's point guard, couldn't help but feel like the world wasn't being fair to him.

The setter, his classmate Hikari, has impeccable skills compared to other girls her age, high quality playmaking abilities, and strong stamina (her team position requires countless numbers of laps around the court she might as well have sprinted an entire kilometer every time there's a rally).

She's a great athlete, but she prefers not to pursue victory for reasons he doesn't quite understand.

He, on the other hand, genuinely pursues victory without any excuses and without any doubt in his heart and works very hard and gives his best to help his team achieve victory so that by the end of the match, it'd be assured that he and his team would be swelling with joy and fulfillment and be feeling like the world is all good and sports is so fun and everything is amazing.

However, despite all these, Izuki was still not particularly good at anything other than punning and has no offensive weapons and was pretty much the least special among the Seirin regulars albeit having the Eagle Eye, not to mention his low stamina and clumsiness never ceased to earn him the occasional yelling from the Coach and Hyuuga and―

"Izuki-senpai."

He whirled around, found Kuroko staring just beside him on the bench.

"I believe you were able to ask Fuyu-senpai about what Coach said yesterday."

"Oh, that," said Izuki. He huffed a little and placed his elbows on his parted thighs. He told the younger boy what he learned from his classmate last night.

Kuroko didn't reply for a few seconds and just stared at the ground in front of him.

"What makes her think like that? I don't see anything reasonable about it," the boy spoke, staring blankly at the ground.

"I don't know a lot about volleyball, but I can tell she's good," he continued, knowing his senpai was listening. "Preferring not to engage in competition makes her talents and efforts in training useless. I'm glad she's willing to fight for the sake of her team, but that's not enough. She has to fight because she has to prove herself too."

"Yeah, I agree." replied Izuki. "She didn't say where she got it, though. Makes me want to see how well she fights in an actual game, not like this."

He spoke while watching a rally of attacks and plays on the court. For a moment, he wondered how Hikari was able to make split-second decisions on which plays to execute while the ball is on a rally. Is it another one of her skills as a setter?

"If Akashi-kun was here, they would have clashed."

"What was that again?" Izuki asked, too lost in his thoughts.

"Nothing."

Silence.

"Izuki-senpai, do you think we should do something?" Kuroko asked with a bit of an edge on his poker face.

It took the point guard a few moments to decide. Actually, he had been thinking about not letting Hikari off with her misconceptions because heck, it was just wrong in so many levels, knowing full well how victory actually brings forth the joy in every game.

How do you help someone who has a preconceived belief on something opposite to that? How do you convince a person to abandon their misleading ideals and believe in you? It's like you're proselytizing a religion, but more importantly, you have to actually prove them wrong, you have to show them that there's a better way of thinking than what they believe in.

How on earth are they gonna do that?

He told Kuroko not to dwell too much on the problem of Hikari, like what Coach reminded them to. Seeing how the setter reacted stubbornly upon being confronted, he knew she wouldn't budge, and Kuroko will just be wasting his time. Hikari herself asked Izuki if she needs psychological help (although she asked that a bit sarcastically) and he assured her that as long as she fights for her team, she'll be good.

So he decided to leave that case aside for now.

But on their next interactions, though, he found himself doing the exact the opposite.

When he remembered another order from the Coach that he should be doing moments after practice ended that day, he felt like the world is pushing him more into the setter's complicated misconceptions. Izuki is not one to complain, and he'd actually be happy to help other people, it's just that he really don't know how to help this classmate of his.

So he and Kuroko still have to walk Hikari to Aida's Sports gym to have her borrow Kagetora-san's medicine ball. Kuroko already left, because he forgot as well, so he had to do it alone.

And it was raining again.

Immediately after remembering that, he ran to the entrance of the school, leaving his teammates in shock. "Gotta meet up with her!" he yelled, which he instantly regretted, knowing his teammates, and dashed off. He found Hikari standing by the gate, eating a bar of Sneakers, under an oversized umbrella.

"You took your time.

"Sorry, I forgot."

"Knew you would. Where's Kuroko-san?"

"Ah. He's not coming, he's kinda sick," he lied, defending Kuroko's absent-mindedness.

His hair was already wet, having to leave the shelter of Hyuuga's umbrella and having to run here made him slightly wet from the rain.

"You're dripping," said Hikari, taking a hanky out of her skirt pocket and started dragging on Izuki's forehead.

"I'm fine. Use that for yourself." He took her wrist gently and peeled the handkerchief off.

"What?"

He scoffed and wiped something from the side of her mouth. "You look more embarrassing than me." He gave the hanky back and there was dirt, no, chocolate on it.

The walk was comfortable despite the rain getting their socks and school uniforms slightly wet. The air between the two was kept casual by the occasional remarks about the boring classes they share, and she also started poking his cheek with a new bar of Sneakers.

The moment they knocked on the entrance of Aida's Sports Gym, Kagetora-san's face came blearing down on them, a bright blue medicine ball in one hand.

"Good evening, Kagetora san."

"Good evening, Mr. . urgh."

Kagetora-san was frowning.

"My lovely daughter said 3 of her apprentices are coming tonight to get this," he moved the hand holding the ball. "I only see two."

"Ahh, Kuroko? He's―he's…"

The man smirked. "Aww, it's alright. I know you two intentionally left the other kid just so you can be alone―"

"No, we didn't!" they said in unison.

He proceeded to laugh, throwing his head back in mirth.

"I told you it's alright. Here." And he shifted the weight of the blue sphere on Izuki's arms.

The boy almost fell on the floor, trying to catch it.

"Ugh~! This is HEAVY," he wobbled and struggled to lift it up to his stomach's level, only to have it falling and rolling on the cement floor.

Of course it's heavy, it's a 4 kilogram medicine ball after all.

"Work it, kid," the older man said, still smirking at the boy who now has the ball secured on his arms.

"Uh, may I ask where the Coach is?" asked Izuki, his arms straining from the effort, but it was bearable.

"Right upstairs, taking a shower."

"Please tell her we already came to get the medicine ball and that we said thanks, we wouldn't want to interrupt more," said Hikari.

Kagetora-san chuckled. "Sure thing, Red Wine," he told her. "You must be the setter Riko-Tan was talking about."

The girl looked perplexed.

"Ah, I guess so?"

Then the man surprised the two teens by putting a hand on Hikari's head.

"I see, you really have a weird head, huh?" he stated, squeezing her skull a little bit.

"Well, uh, Kagetora-san," Izuki spluttered, worriedly looking at the hand on Hikari's head, "We'll be taking our leave now."

He let his hand down. "Alright, careful on your way."

"Hai. Thank you so much!" the two bowed politely.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

Izuki huffed in relief the moment they stopped in front of a small, modern-styled house. They finally reached Hikari's place, after such a long, wet journey. Oh, he just had to smile.

The rain had poured down on them heavier and once he had to run after the medicine ball when it slipped off his hands and rolled on its merry way down the slippery street. Of course the run had made him all wet and dripping and Hikari just really had to laugh herself silly.

Right, and he was even doing this for her.

"I'll just get this inside," he said when the girl turned to him.

"Sure."

She opened the door and got in, Izuki following close. He'd been here last night, when he had to walk her too, but he didn't have to get in. Now he had to cuz he still wouldn't want a girl to carry that heavy sphere full of sand that they call medicine ball (why is it even called medicine ball? It doesn't look like it can sure something), even if the girl he was referring to was probably even more athletic than him.

When Hikari told him to place it at the carpet on the corner, that's when it dawned to her, that her poor and helpful classmate, soaked in rain and stinking, needs a warm shower immediately, that is if he doesn't like getting sick. She face-palmed herself, she'd be the one to get sick if he gets home like this.

"Izuki-kun."

"Yeap?" he stood up in front of her.

"Uhhh, well. You look un-look-able. "

"That's a pun," he said beaming.

She snorted and scratched her dark blood-colored head, looking unsure. "You need to take a shower."

"I will, when I get home. Thanks."

"You need it now, I guess you can use my brother's shower…?"

"What?"

"You can't go home like that, you know."

Izuki looked around, trying to hide the embarrassment. "Uhhh, you'd let me shower here?"

"Yeah, I guess so," said the maroonhead, "My brother won't be here until midnight. No one's around, just me."

Oh no.

"Uhh. . ." of course he's reluctant, this is embarrassing.

Hikari sighed. "Come on. No big deal. I just don't want you to get home looking like you've been swallowed and spitted out by an anaconda."

Izuki made a disgusted face and looked at himself. "Ehh, I don't think. . ."

She sighed, yanked him by the elbow and started pulling him into one of the rooms in the small house.

Groans and whines of 'I really don't have to,' were heard before she managed to toss the point guard into the bathroom and shut the door. She had to put herself as a barrier on the door to keep the stubborn and embarrassed boy from getting out.

"I don't have a change of. . .anything!" called Izuki, pushing the door so as not to be pegged as… too submissive. He does think he needs a shower now but oh well, being all flustered makes him go out-of-character.

"I'll get you something!" Hikari yelled back, although they were just a door apart. "Just stop pushing the door, damn it."

Izuki dropped his hands, realizing how childish he acted like. Damn, why should he get all embarrassed like this? He's just going to take a shower and that's it. "Alright," he surrendered.

"Good."

He has already stripped his wet gakuran top off and was about to pull down his slacks zipper when Hikari barged inside the bathroom, a bunch of clothing in her arms.

"Whoa~whoaah! Holy shoot, I'm sorry!" she immediately backed off, seeing his half-naked back and turning face full of horror.

"Sorry, I thought you were still fully dressed," she called again, already on the other side of the bathroom door.

The point guard wanted to pull his hair out. "It's alright, just leave them there."

"I dunno what you would wear so I got a variety for you," he heard her say from the outside. "These are all my brother's. He's quite bigger than you, but I guess they'll fit alright."

"Alright. Thank you so much, I really appreciate it," he replied sincerely.

He heard her giggle. "You're welcome. It's my fault you got wet in the rain anyway."

"It can't be helped, we have a rain-sane wet-ther after all." PING!

A string of chortles from outside the bathroom instantly followed. "What the heck!? That's the lamest pun you've ever made!"

Izuki couldn't help the beam that erupted on his face, hidden from his obviously amused classmate. _But you're laughing anyway,_ he wanted to say.

Hearing her laugh like this reminded him of that rainy Sunday when he first saw her play volleyball with her teammates. She'd sounded so loud, so hysterical, and now he was hearing her laugh like that again. Maybe, he figured, maybe she'd become comfortable around him, just like him around her.

The he remembered again… the reason why she is not his type of girl.

_Sheesh, why do I have to get reminded of that now?_

When he heard the sound of a barring door and Hikari's fading chuckles, Izuki shrugged and went on with this very misplaced and quite untimely shower.

**EXTRA:**

"Of course, you miss the fun when you miss the pun, so I keep it handy-dandy."

Giggle. "Do you also. . . sit down in a thinking chair and think, think, think," she sang, mimicking that weird guy with striped green shirt.

Kagami grimaced, the hold in his tray of burgers started loosening.

No, he did not just hear his senpai and that girl from the volleyball club talk about that show. That freaking kiddie show he was so freakishly fond of when he was still a kid in L.A.

No, he doesn't want to get reminded of that every time he sees the little notebook of his senpai that the older boy seems to be pulling out a lot.

No.

He doesn't care if they're dating or what, he's gonna find a table farthest from those two weirdoes.

Unfortunately, he can't find one.

* * *

**End Notes:**

LOL. That was lame.

I'd like to apologize for the lack of fluff and romance stuff. We're just not there yet, but we're getting there. *excited*

Question: Am I making sense here? If I am, do you hate Hikari for thinking that way about victory and defeat and for having that I-only-play-because-it's-fun-and-not-to-compete attitude?

If you do, I hope you won't hate anymore once you figure out why… lol.

See you next chapter. And also, please leave a review.


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks for the reviews and follows and favs so far :)

I hope you like this (kinda) fluff-ish chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own KnB, alright.

* * *

**Chapter IV**

When Izuki stepped out of the small bathroom, the first thing he heard was the strong sound of rain hitting the roof and thunders crashing.

The clothes she handed him weren't bad; the ones he picked were actually something he would wear on good days. The dark long-sleeved shirt was tight around the arms but they looked ok when rolled up to the elbow, and the faded jeans were not very skinny. It really was a good thing the rain wasn't able to reach his underclothes, or else…

"Hikari-san?" he called, stepping into the small, gold hued living room.

He found her sitting cross-legged on the floor, tossing a basketball (the one he handed to her yesterday) into a wall repeatedly. It was the same drill he saw her doing during practice, but there was something _absolutely refreshing_ about seeing her in simple house clothes like those oversized shirt and skimpy shorts while at it. Her long maroon hair was worn down too, tips touching the floor like petals of dark red roses around her slim figure.

Wide, blood-colored eyes looked up at him at the sound of her name, halting in her take-home practice at once. He found it weird, though, how she almost instantly turned her head the moment she met his sharp gaze.

"I can't let you step out yet, it's still raining cats and dogs outside," she told him without looking.

"Yeah," he sat on the couch just beside her, "And people like me used to think bringing an umbrella is too _pet_ty for some reason."

Hikari tss-ed at him with a knowing grin.

"You just had to make an excuse to spew out another lame pun."

He didn't reply, but the tiny smirk she managed to see on his lips while the point guard was drying his black, tousled locks with a towel was enough for her.

_Alluring, _she thought, watching him without turning her head.

The girl immediately tried to get back to tossing before he catches her.

"Urgh, it's tangled."

When she looked at him again, he was watching her closely it was impossible to ignore the scent of freshly cut pine needles on him. His now dry hair was sticking up all over the place and he looked so endearing and she had no idea how his eyes suddenly looked a lot more silvery than usual.

"You need a comb or something?"

Izuki lifted a lock of hair and spoke in a serious tone, "My hair says 'I'm a frayed knot', so I guess my fingers will do." PING!

If there was anything Izuki didn't enjoy about saying that pun, it was only the way Hikari's palm connected painfully on his arm. The rest, like the sight of her giggling helplessly while trying to throttle him, he was rather proud of.

Moments later, a small talk about their sports kept them busy while waiting for the heavy rain to subside.

When Hikari finished her tossings, she realized it was dinner time. She stood up, spent a minute on the kitchen, shoved a cup of instant ramen on Izuki's hands, and sat on the couch beside him, helping herself with a cup of her own.

He thanked her and slurped a hearty heaving.

"So how do you do it, the split-second playmaking thing while in a crucial rally?" he then asked, resuming their previous conversation. "Because in basketball, you have plenty of seconds to think about an appropriate play for a certain situation, but in a volleyball rally, it's a continuous round of blows there's like no time to think at all."

"Mmm~! Absolutely 100% right," she replied after a mouthful of noodles. "But well, in fast-paced situations like that, what I do is I try to slow-down the pace of the game while trusting that my teammates will take every single pass that I give them, so I just make use of my experiences and instincts instead of actually thinking of what my next plays are gonna be. I don't know if it's applicable in basketball though."

Izuki nodded, understanding a lot. "I think it is. I think the point guard has to do the same job. How do you slow it down when the game is too fast-paced, by the way?"

"Hmm, let's see," the setter put fingers over her lips, eyes wandering up. Then she brightened and said, "Oh, I guess just by being a leader to your team while on the court."

Izuki tried to ignore it when she lifted her legs and put them close to her body like that, making the couch sag a bit against them.

"Although we're not the captain, or the ace, or a scorer," she continued, "I think point guards and setters always have to be the ones in command. Proper communication and influence to your team makes that work."

He's aware of how laid-back this female athlete is when it comes to matches, she even told him she doesn't like opting for a win. But oddly enough, he has been learning a lot of things about the setter that he can definitely use as a point guard.

It was almost laughable actually, for a team with a setter this diverse in game understanding to not have won a single match in the Interhigh prelims. And now they're even on the verge of getting terminated if they keep they're losing streak.

Out of the blue, Hikari suddenly asked about how he was able to send passes to people even without actually looking, and why it seems like the point guard can see everyone in the court when he plays.

Izuki scratched his head and explained about his Eagle Eye, ears turning pink when Hikari said she was watching him that's why she noticed.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

"Is your Coach around?"

"She's still with your teammates outside."

Hikari beamed.

"Alright, gimmie a pass!"

Izuki reluctantly gave her a pass.

"You're gonna shoot?"

Scoff. "No, I'm gonna bonk you in the head with it."

Scoff. "I'd like to see to try."

"What, bonk you in the head or shoot? I can do both."

"I'd prefer if you just shoot."

Another scoff. Then Hikari checked to see if she wasn't stepping on the free-throw line and tossed the ball to the ring.

"Oh my god, it went through. It didn't even hit the freaking hoop, hah~!"

"Nice shot in a new niche! That's great!"

Giggles. "It's not great, the pun I mean."

Sigh. "You know, it's kind of getting a bit frustrating how you keep denying my punning ability."

"Your nonexistent punning ability?" and she openly laughed.

But Izuki was smiling amiably at her, ball gathered back in his hands.

They were the only ones left on the court, his teammates already on their locker room done with practice and her teammates still doing a spiking drill on the school field under Riko's guidance. Hikari was left on the gym, not needing a spiking training being a setting specialist, and she still have to throw a few tosses before she completes her 500 sets for the day. Izuki, passing by and seeing his classmate alone, came up and now they're having a free-throw shooting contest right there.

Hikari couldn't believe it, but she actually won and was able to shoot 5 consecutive free-throws against Izuki, who had missed a shot and is a basketball player at that.

_I wonder how winning feels like for her, _Izuki thought inwardly.

"Jeez, you beat me there," he huffed, smiling endearingly. "Although you're not actually shooting, you're just tossing it to the hoop like this is volleyball."

"What, as long as it goes in, it's a score."

The point guard touched his chin, thinking. "That's right. Now that I think about it, I've seen a lot of basketball players with weird shooting forms."

She grinned, dribbling the basketball like a volleyball.

"Hey, why don't you try what I do, see if it works on you?" Hikari sent him a pass.

He complied, not seeing anything wrong with it. Who knows this might be an opportunity to learn a new shooting technique?

He lifted the ball, trying to think of her tossing stance. When he jumped and tossed, the arc was too shallow and the ball hit the hoop instead.

Hikari clicked her tongue. "That's not how you do it, your hands are so wrong."

And she closed the distance between them to mere inches and positioned his hands accordingly.

"There, use both of your wrists to flip the ball out. No need to push it too hard."

Izuki tried again and failed again, earning a mental pat on the back from himself for at least trying.

"Ugh, this is hard. It's easy for you 'cause your hands are flexible, and very soft."

They looked at one another.

"And you're a trained setter, that's why" he added before he turns pink again.

The maroonhead smiled. "Must be the medicine ball's fault. That super heavy drag really improved my wrist and my arm strength in just a couple of days. Look, I feel like I can shoot super long threes now, hah."

Before she can toss the ball in the air again, a whizz of black and blue lunged forward and stole it from her, bodies almost colliding due to her lack of guard. She yelped and laughed, not expecting his advance, but immediately got her game back.

"Let's see you try that if you can pass me," he said, keeping his stance and dribbling the ball, a look of challenge in his striking face.

She could swear his eyes glinted.

Hikari humored herself at the idea and tried to mirror him. "One-on-one, huh?"

In the end, they only managed to look like two children playing tag because Hikari clearly doesn't know how to guard and steal, or play basketball at all. And she kept yelping and laughing along the way.

Izuki took advantage of this, and showed her how it was done… showed it in a way Hikari could only perceive as excessively cool and hot because heck, that was really how it was like playing one-on-one basketball with Izuki Shun when he's putting his frisky game-face on so close to you just like that.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

"Did you put glitters on? Cuz I literally saw sparkles around you guys there."

Kai, the team captain and ace, gave her setter a toothy sneer, leaning by the lockers after a trip to the shower room.

Hikari groaned and looked up from her locker. "Please, I've already had enough puns for the _rest of my life."_

The spiker shrugged, curly pigtails bouncing. "Means you've been hanging out with that point guard long enough to have had enough puns for the rest of your life."

"Heh~ good one," the maroonhead replied sardonically.

But Kai just sneered more and crossed her arms over her towel-wrapped chest.

"So tell me, how far have you two gone?"

Hikari threw the first item she grabbed from her locker to the captain's face, careful about her towel slipping down her body.

The deodorant was immediately blocked.

"You know what? We haven't gotten very far, but I'll talk to him later and we'll go as far as burning your tongue out and sewing your mouth shut."

The sound of their chuckles instantly gave away the bite in their remarks. You just know that they're just kidding each other and have been doing that for a long time.

"I mean why don't you jump on him already?" Kai was saying. "I literally think you should be doing that every time I see you guys together."

"Yeah, you'd be like the cutest couple in all of Seirin. Gosh, point guard and setter," a teammate squealed. Kai high-fived her.

"I will jump on him," Hikari answered back, holding her towel to her chest, "But I will do a double back flip and kick all of your faces through your asses."

"Brutal," another commented.

"But seriously, Hikari. What do you think of Mr. Point Guard?" Kai asked after a moment.

Hikari let out a small huff and also leaned on the lockers, seemingly less cynical than seconds ago.

"Well, seriously, I think Izuki's pretty cute. And adorable. And smart. I think everyone agrees he's the hottest in their team, right?"

The girls gave a yeah-I-guess-so kind of nod.

"But to be honest, I don't know if he's boyfriend material. Well for me anyway. Cuz, you know, I'm too much of a psycho, and he's like‒" she flanged her arms out "‒this absolutely sane guy and like overly philosophical about life and sports and stuff."

"Isn't that exactly what you need?" said someone sarcastic.

The girl in question took a second to think.

"What? A psychotherapist? I guess not."

"But you know in romance movies, the guy shows up and fixes whatever crap was broken about the girl or something like that."

"Shut up," threatened Hikari while grinning. "I guess… someone on par with my psychotic-ness will work on me more." Then she chuckled like something was funny.

"Wait, are you guys talking about that senpai who likes wearing blue shirts in practice?" said another girl who just entered the changing room.

"Yea, like him too?" asked Kai.

"OMG, no. I have a friend who's absolutely super fangirl over that guy, but she says he likes super terrible super lame puns."

"Huh? Isn't that like a total turn-off when a pretty guy acts like a total lame-o." another girl rolled her eyes.

"Hmm, really? But you know guys, I actually like the puns. I mean I like it when he's punning, not the puns. It's lame, but that's what makes him kind of adorable." confessed Hikari.

"Seriously?" smirked the captain.

"I don't know, but yeah. He's so dorky I feel like squishing him every time he comes up with stupid puns."

The whole team stared at their setter like she's developed another disorder.

"I beg to differ."

"Hikari-senpai totally digs that hottie."

"Girlfriends defending their beloved boyfriends' reputation are always the best."

"What the actual hell." Hikari sniggered.

Miyu, a freshman spiker, held out an index finger and said, "Did you know? Research shows that when a person laughs too much even at lame humor," the smile on the girls' face comically turned to a frown, "It means they're sad."

Hikari made a sneering 'wtf' face.

"Awww. That's saaad, Hikari," Kai actually tried sounding unhappy, but only succeeded in sounding like her usual sardonic self. "Don't worry, research also shows that when girls laugh at guys with lame humor, it means they're flirting with them."

The setter felt like throwing the all the contents of her locker to her captain's face, but weren't able to do so as she was immediately overcame by her strings of flustered laughter.

Then while her team fooled around, she inwardly wondered if both of those researches (including Kai's) were right.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

Next day at practice.

"Izuki-kun."

"Yes, Coach."

"Can you try that shot again?"

Some PFFFT's were heard.

"You mean that lame shot Izuki suddenly pulled out of nowhere?" said Hyuuga.

"I didn't pull it out of nowhere."

Riko put a hand on her hips. "Try it."

He did, this time it went in.

If there was anyone observing Riko closely, they would have sworn her eyes sparkled.

"Good job, Izuki-kun. We will work on developing this particular shot. This might be your offensive weapon."

Izuki fisted the air triumphantly, glancing at the volleyball club from the other side of the court, making a mental note to high five Hikari the next time they meet.

He instantly feigned a choke the moment he saw her glance his way too.

* * *

**End Notes:**

I don't have ideas for an extra now, heh.

Did you guys enjoy the girltalk scene? Because I did, lol.

This is probably gonna be longer, like 9 or 10 chapters or something. Ugh, I still have a thesis to finish.

And sorry if the explanations about the OC were taking longer. *hides in the corner*

Yeap, I'm looking forward to seeing your reviews. :D

P.S You guys wanna see Hikari? I drew a picture of her, she's kind of cute :) The link is on my profile.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter V**

_From: Coach_

_Subject: Meeting_

_Date: 11/3 9:34 AM_

_Kuroko-kun, Izuki-kun, let's meet at the rooftop this lunch break._

Izuki stared at his phone, trying to think of a reason why Riko would request to meet up with only him and Kuroko. Usually, she demands the whole team's presence when she has something to say. Now it's a meeting between just the three of them.

He came up with one possible reason, something that has to do with a certain maroon headed classmate (who was currently seated desks away from him, scribbling something) taking it from the conversation they had about her the first time they shared the same gym for practice. But that wasn't quite plausible, considering how that certain classmate wasn't very much related to basketball, or to their team for that matter.

He stood up from his seat, joining the crowd of students filing to go outside for lunch. Before he stepped out of the classroom, Izuki spared another glance at Hikari and wondered why she just sat there and scribbled. It seemed like the setter doesn't plan on leaving the class to hang out with her teammates like she usually does.

"Did you manage to talk to Hikari-san?"

That was the first thing Riko said the moment the three were gathered. It turned out Izuki was right.

"To be honest, we haven't," Izuki spoke dejectedly, leaning his elbows on the railings. "She's too stubborn, and was quick to figure out it was you who told us about her‒" he looked unsure of the how to word it, "‒about her weird misconceptions."

"I was also able to talk to her a couple of times," Kuroko supplied. "It seemed like she's already prepared to counter everything I try to tell her."

"Yeah, in her own spunky way."

Riko sighed, also placing her elbows on the railings.

"I'm sorry to have to put you two in charge of this. I should be the one dealing with their team problems, not you guys."

The two boys blinked at their coach.

"Coach, you've already been doing your best helping their team while training us," said Kuroko thoughtfully.

"Hikari-san's case is different," Riko clarified. "It's something I can't solve by just physically conditioning her. I am not an athlete, I don't know how it feels like to handle the pressure of having to win inside the hardcourt."

It was odd to see their coach having trouble in something not related to the basketball club, Izuki and Kuroko figured.

"So I tried to think of other options and came up with people who can deal with her in my stead," she continued. "Teppei is still adjusting in his return to the team, Hyuuga-kun doesn't know how to handle girls, Papa doesn't have time, and the others don't have much experience, so you guys are my best bet."

"You don't have to worry," said Izuki reassuringly. "Hikari-san told me she doesn't have a choice but to compete in every game for the sake of her team, even though for some reason she doesn't like engaging in competitions."

"But she still drags her team down. I don't even know why she lets her team loose so easily like that."

Riko leaned her chin over her folded arms on the railings, sighing lazily. Her two apprentices were giving her confused looks, even Kuroko.

"Hikari-san is the main reason why victory comes rarely for their team. Their captain told me she does poorly in matches, and judging from how she sounded like when telling me about it, it seemed like the same thing happens every match."

Izuki furrowed his eyebrows. There was something wrong with what he heard.

"We all know they're a good team and Hikari-san plays well. But to be honest, I really think she's wasting her talent by being too caught up in her misconceptions. It's almost as if she's trying not to win on purpose! Jeez, she really needs to grow up already."

If he hasn't had the chance to know Hikari more personally these past few weeks, Izuki wouldn't have been surprised hearing this from his Coach.

In fact, he definitely would have believed in her without second thought. It was Hikari anyway, and she definitely didn't strike him nicely the first time they started talking about sports.

But now that they were able to interact more often, the impression that she was just an immature athlete who only plays for the kicks and giggles was starting to get overshadowed by the amount of effort and time she allots in practice, not to mention her seemingly endless knowledge about volleyball.

It would have been a whole different story if she was the ace or the scorer of the team, but she's the supporter whose job is to make her teammates shine, like a point guard or a shadow does. It was absurd to think that an athlete like her can be that disrespectful.

"She can't be that bad," Izuki argued.

Riko and Kuroko looked at him pointedly.

"I mean, I've seen her. I've seen her give her best in practice, even at home, even if she has one of the toughest positions in all of sports. I've seen how happy she looks when she plays, how she celebrates every point and every amazing spikes she supports her teammates with. I don't think someone like her can be so disrespectful to the point that she'd purposely try not to win just because of a ridiculous misconception."

After seconds of silence, the response Izuki got from that entire ramble was a not-so-gentle shove in the back, courtesy of his coach of course.

"Idiot, didn't I tell you guys not to focus on the girls when practicing?"

Izuki rubbed his achy back. "I'm not focusing on them, I just… can see things."

"I agree with Izuki-senpai," Kuroko suddenly spoke, making his presence felt again.

"There must be a reason why Fuyu-senpai is unable to play well in matches," he speculated.

"That's exactly what I'm thinking about," said Izuki.

Riko shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. I like to think she has a good reason, but whatever it was, there's no valid excuse to drag your team down like that. She's the setter, she's supposed to be the one to lead them to victory."

Izuki felt like he was being addressed indirectly. As a point guard, it can be said that this also applies to him.

Riko straightened up and went for the stairs.

"Alright, that's all for this talk. I'll see you later in practice. I only wanted to ask you about how you're dealing with Hikari-san because they have a practice match today. I'm just afraid they will loose again. Nobody wants them to get terminated by the end of the semester."

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

Izuki pushed the sliding door of their classroom and was glad to see his target still on her seat.

Hikari was looking out the window, a hand of her chin, her dark-blood hair side-swept on one shoulder with its tips sprawled on top of her desk. There was a look in her eyes that can simply be interpreted as boredom, but Izuki's sharp eyes saw it as something akin to despondency. If he were to put it figuratively, she almost appeared to be looking at an apology somewhere.

And somehow, it made her look even more beautiful. . .

Izuki dispelled this silly thought and walked towards her, holding a plastic bag with food on one hand.

"Hikari-san, did you get lunch already?" he asked.

The setter turned to look up at the point guard. "Yeah, thanks," she replied casually.

"But I didn't see you out with your team. I saw them on the canteen, you weren't around."

"Maybe I went alone?" she impishly told him, smiling a humorless smile.

Izuki sat on the chair in front of her desk, turning sideward to face the setter.

"You weren't there, I didn't see you."

"Don't tell me you can see everyone wherever you go?" she chuckled humorlessly.

"Well you just have this long dark red hair and you're wearing a beige sweater and you're taller than a lot of girls. It would be ill-eagle for my Eagle Eye to not notice you." PING!

His attempt on cheering her up proved successful when Hikari made an expression that can only be described as a cross between wanting to strangle him and wanting to take him home and squish the fluffins out of him.

Izuki just had to smile seeing this, completely forgetting what he came here for.

"Heh~ should I give a laugh for that? How many?" she teased, still wearing the same expression.

"No need. You're already laughing inside your head."

"Yes, while beating you to a bloody pulp."

Sigh. "You're not gonna admit that you think I'm funny, orange you?" PING! PING! PING!

Izuki chuckled his squinty-eyed chuckle while frantically trying to restrain his classmate who have reached out and tried to tackle him, pinching his cheeks sore and chortling like a helpless goof.

"Yuuu sooo adorrrr~bz!" she screeched.

_God, her reactions are always the best, _he thought.

Some of their classmates who didn't leave for lunch were giving them odd looks.

"Since when did those two started acting all buddy-buddy?" one of them whispered.

"I don't know, I heard their teams practice together on the gym. I've been noticing them talk like bffs every once in a while now," whispered another.

"That explains a lot. I wonder what they do in 'practice' for them to suddenly be this close?"

By the end of their little skirmish, Izuki's cheeks were already very pink from all the pinching.

After a moment, he pulled out a sandwich from the plastic bag he brought.

"Here, you must be hungry, I haven't had lunch too so I'll share with you," he handed it to her, still grinning happily. He took one for himself and started eating.

"My teammates went here, they bought me food," she said after recovering.

As a proof, she showed him some empty packs bunched on the compartment under her desk.

"But don't worry I'm still hungry." And she took the sandwich and ate.

"Why didn't you go with them?" the point guard asked.

"Cuz I'm busy, simple as that."

"Busy with what? I don't think we have a quiz or something."

"I wonder why students here are always ready to kill each other just to buy that super special black iberian pig sandwich when there's a tuna sandwich this aweso‒"

"Were you busy with this?" Izuki cut her random rambling, picking a piece of paper on her table.

"Uh well, you can say that," she admitted. "You won't even make anything out of it anyway."

He looked at the bunch of messed up lines and numbers and scribbles on it.

"No, I think this looks like a play plan. For the practice game later, I presume?"

Hikari narrowed her eyes.

"Who told you about that?"

"Coach. Anyway, where would it be held? Who are the opponents?"

She huffed. "I don't know about the opponents but it'll be here in school, on the gym."

"Really? I hope Coach allows us to watch," he bit another mouthful.

A sneer appeared on Hikari's lips. "You wouldn't want to watch us play, dorky. In fact, I don't think you'd be able to. It starts 2 hours before class ends so we'll be leaving earlier."

Izuki's pupils suddenly dilated, eyebrows knitting together‒ a look of utter shock in his face.

Hikari braced herself for what's coming next.

"Then we will be missing the match because the schedule is a mismatch!" PING!

And she turned into a sniggering mess again and gave the adorable black-haired boy another pinch on the cheek, making an amused sound in her throat.

"You're so freaking raaandooom~!"

The punster wrote down the pun when she let go of his cheek, smiling at his success.

They continued emptying the plastic bag at a leisurely pace. When they finished and put away all the trash, Izuki didn't go back to his own desk. Instead, he resumed his seat in front of Hikari. This time, he went down to business and told her what he'd been meaning to the entire time.

"Hikari-san, promise me you'll do your best to win the game today."

Too bad it really just had to ruin the mood.

The sincerity in his tone made the setter cringe. It almost instantly wiped away the liveliness in her aura.

"That's exactly what my teammates told me when they came here, no need to repeat," she told him nonchalantly.

Izuki had been avoiding talking to Hikari about _this subject _again thinking it might be something sensitive for her or she might misunderstand if he opens it again, but at least today he has a good and sensible reason to.

"I just wanna make sure you will, without _any excuses_, whether you prefer it or not."

Hikari sighed deeply, rolling her eyes. "Alright, I won't promise anything cuz I'm not good at making promises, but I will play like my life depends on it, you ok with that? I told you I try to compete because it's my duty to do so. Not that I'm the kind of person for that stuff."

The setter looked away uninterestedly and refused to answer any more of his questions like an enthusiastic person does.

**-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-**

Two hours before the class gets dismissed, Hikari stood up from her seat, took her bag and her stuff, walked towards the Sensei in front of them, gave a note which Izuki assumed to be an excuse letter, and left.

But before she steps out to meet her teammates for the practice match, she gave Izuki a millisecond of a glance that said something he couldn't decipher. He held up a thumb and gave her a quick smile that says 'Good luck!' in return.

_I wonder what happens for them to loose a match so easily, I wonder how well she does…, _he thought inwardly.

Two hours later, the sharp-eyed point guard almost broke into a grin while walking towards the gym for practice when he heard the squeaks of shoes and the occasional yells of female volleyball players.

This could only mean one thing: the practice match still hasn't finished yet.

"Hear that? That's the volleyball club, they're having a practice match against another school. Come on let's go watch!" he told Hyuuga who was walking with him.

"I didn't know you stink of hypocrisy like this, Izuki. I should've known you like spying on girls. That's an abuse of special ability!" the clutch shooter said.

"What? No! I wanna see how they play! What are you talking about Hyuuga?"

But the practice match has already ended when they arrived, to Izuki's further disappointment. The two teams were already shaking hands in the center of the court, saying thanks and congratulating the winners as they go.

But the question is ‒ who won the game?

Izuki immediately looked at the scoreboard and his onyx eyes widened at the sight of the results.

_5__th__ set, Hayashi – 12, Seirin – 15._

It's a victory for Hikari's team.

And it was a tight match which lasted for 2 hours up until the 5th set.

It must be a thrilling game, she must have given her best, she must be feeling really good about winning‒

Izuki watched Hikari, who was clad in Seirin's volleyball uniform, looking for a reaction, hoping she would somehow show any kind of delight about winning such a tight match.

But she just remained silent, nonchalant, passive, as if winning doesn't affect her in any kind of way.

Watching her now reminded him of the many basketball players who also looks like this after winning a game.

Then she met his gaze, icy and suspecting and blank all the same. It puzzled him more when she decided to not acknowledge his presence and just casually ignored him.

"Looks like someone gets snobby when they snag a win."

It was Hyuuga who said that. He also noticed.

Izuki wondered why his classmate acted like this, and why her team doesn't seem to be celebrating as well. The idea of them not giving a damn about victory and defeat crossed his mind again, but that thought didn't suit the girls well after all the times he saw them give their all in practice.

His questions were immediately answered when the opposing team walked in front of him and Hyuuga, heading towards the changing rooms.

He noticed it when they started whispering at each other at the sight of him, ogling and blushing and smiling shyly like middle school students…

It dawned to him right then.

This team was from a school named Hayashi. Once, he heard his little sister, Mai, talking about wanting to go this school next year because the dismissal time is two hours earlier than most schools, and it's just around their prefecture so there won't be a problem.

But his little sister was just in 6th grade in elementary, and she wants to go to Hayashi next year.

. . . to Hayashi Middle School.

Seirin High School volleyball club just had a practice match against Hayashi Middle School volleyball club, and the high school girls almost didn't win against the middle schoolers.

Now there's no way he wouldn't understand how awful it must have felt.

So when Hikari's team started heading towards the changing rooms as well, he strode towards them, called out to his classmate, and grasped her arm when she chose to ignore him again.

He was met by a pair of hollow, dark-blood colored eyes gazing lifelessly and at the same time infuriatingly at him.

"Can we talk?"

She cocked her eyebrows, chirping an oddly high-pitched "Sure."

She glanced at her team and gave them a signal to go ahead without her.

He released her arm, she stared at him boringly again.

"Who decided about this? Why did you allow a practice match against a middle school team?"

"The Sports Department did. Why? Because it's unfair for the little brats? Or is it unfair for us?"

Izuki felt his usually kept and leveled temper unexpectedly rising up at her lack of retribution. His pupils dilated in a mere second, making his eyes gleam a furious shade of silver.

"Either way, it's just wrong, Hikari-san. You should be going against fellow high school teams, not middle schoolers. You and your team deserves better than this."

She scoffed.

"Alright, so we go against another funny-assed high school team and then what? We get crushed like always?"

"Then at least you should've crushed them! Show everyone you can do so much more!"

He knows it shouldn't feel better to yell, but it did.

"Oh?" she scoffed again. "You didn't see how much we tried, how much I tried."

"Don't give me that." Izuki found it funny that he sounded like Hyuuga now, but never thought about laughing about it. "You were holding back, didn't you?"

"What!?"

"You were holding back because for some ridiculous reason, you don't really wanna win," he said accusingly.

She didn't scoff this time, she chuckled. And it lacked the humor it used to have. Izuki honest-to-God hated it.

"Sorry, I didn't know it was stupid of me to tell you about that. I actually thought you would understand, I was hella wrong." she said sneeringly, running a hand over face in exasperation.

Izuki's hands curled into fists, not only because he didn't know how to respond to that, but also because he was taken aback hearing her say that she shouldn't have trusted him.

"Look, this is the only way we win, Izuki-kun," she continued. "Playing against weak and hopeless teams just like what I've managed to make out of this team of mine."

The point guard's scowl deepened, finding his voice again. "But your team is not weak, Hikari-san, you're not hopeless. Everyone knows that."

"Well surprise, dorky. I'm sorry to say that we're not the great and mighty team that you've been seeing here in this gym ever since we started crashing your practice. And that's because I am their setter of course if you didn't notice. My teammates are amazing, yes, but me? Hell no."

"Stop saying that! A team becomes amazing because of a great support, and you're a great support of them. Weren't you the one who told me that? You're a strong athlete, Hikari-san, I don't believe the only thing you can do is to drag your team down like what you're trying to tell me now."

He hoped she was able to pick up that the last sentence was meant to emphasize how much he believes in her, but what she told him next proved otherwise.

"Well here's what I'm telling you," the setter stepped close enough it's impossible to ignore the tiny liquid crystals forming on her eyes. "There are many things you can do to strengthen an athlete's mind and physique, Izuki-kun, but you can do nothing to strengthen a person's heart. If the heart is weak, physical and mental strengths becomes just as useless as a piece of shit."

Then she turned and walked away, without sparing another glance.

And that was the moment Izuki came to realize why pursuit of victory has never been an option for Fuyu Hikari.

* * *

**End Notes: **

You know what? My thesis has gotten even more bullshit. Fuck college and fuck thesis work. Why do they have to exist?

Anyway, I did major editings for the first three chapters because I realized they were shit. Like I already edited them for about kajilions of times before posting and I still had to edit them for another kajilions of times after posting. Urgh. Nothing much changed in the story, I just made them a bit more readable. Well hopefully lol.

Fact Fujimaki-san made up: Izuki having a little sister named Mai is canon. It's on the Replace II omake.

Fact I just made up: The volleyball club's jersey has the same design and colors as the basketball club's, just a whole lotta tighter and styled for volleyball of course. One day, I'll try to draw that. I don't know.

Para nga pala sa mga pinoy jan, kelan kaya ipapalabas ang kuroko sa channel 2? Gusto ko na marinig si Hanamiya magsabi ng baakaaaa in tagalog hahaha lol.

P.S If you do not understand the above paragraph, just ignore.

P.S.S Izuki was not shouting like how Hyuuga or Kagami shouts ya see. He's more like the smooth and cool shouter or something haha.


End file.
